random stuff

I didn't get any sewing done in May or June because Adam took over my sewing machine. He was making hammocks for his Scout troop before their summer camp week. They turned out pretty well! He really liked sleeping in his, rather than on a cot for 5 nights! At one point during his sewing marathon, he said something about getting a second sewing machine. That made me laugh because here we are completely new to this, and we're already talking about multiple sewing machines. And a serger. But hey - my friend Kera has 3 or 4 sewing machines and she uses them all for different things. She's got quite the set-up all over her family room sometimes, when she's doing big projects like Halloween costumes for all 6 of her kids.

Anyway, I don't have pictures of anything right now, but since I got my machine back, I have made ...

- a felt garland for Adam's birthday and Father's Day, like my Christmas one ... this one was just circles rather than all the mixed shapes. I used various shades of blue, and threw in the occasional green, yellow, or orange to break it up. I really like it! I plan to make one for each of the girls in their "signature color" for when we celebrate their birthdays and other big events.

- a "cozy" for Adam's camp gear - see this post for how their Scout troop is starting to do their food on overnight campouts and what that item is. Adam was going to make one for himself but I beat him to it and gave it to him as part of his birthday stuff. I made one out of old jeans and some cotton fabric on the inside (blue and white stripes ... but one of these days, I gotta stick something cutsey and girly on the inside of some of his Scout stuff - mwa ha ha!), and I put 3 layers of quilt batting in between. My machine didn't like how thick it all was but we managed to get it done.

- one of the t-shirt playdresses. I have the fixin's for 6 of them (2 each for SM, RG, and JE) plus 2 sundresses for the baby. I made one of them awhile ago, and finally took the time to make the 2nd one earlier this week. I'm giving myself a deadline of next week to get the whole bunch of them done. I want this pile of fabric off my dining room table where it has taken up residence for over a month.

- two Independence Day skirts, for SM and JE. RG didn't want one and I didn't have time to make anything for the baby. The fabric was in the stash I got from a lady at church cleaning out her fabric storage and she gave a bunch to me. It's an off-white background with the Pledge of Allegiance printed all over it and some little flags. I did the Simple Skirt from MADE, like I did with the Easter skirts so they went very fast. I'm getting better at this! Yay! My next thing to figure out with skirts for the girls is how to embellish them - add a ruffle around the bottom or do a different model/tutorial for a skirt. Something new and different.